A change of circumstance
by Lexon von Zix
Summary: first fic. self-insert with a twist. I died and was eaten by a hollow. two problems;1 i can't remember anything before i died, and 2 I'm now the hollow that ate me. M for swears and safety. RnR
1. The Beginning

This is my first attempt at making a fan fiction, so please no flames.

Disclaimer: I do not own bleach.

Also, the first few chapters may be short

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><p>Pov 1<p>

**Hueco Mundo**

…_pain, pain and screaming. _I thought, floating in this black limbo. _So many voices…I never heard so many voices. Why are they screaming?_

Those were my only thoughts as I floated there, in a swarming mass of darkness, pain, and screaming watching this thing eating another of its kin. I have been like this for longer than any _human _could remember or should, hell; the only thing that I could remember of my live, before I died, was my name, and how I got here.

My name is Xander Shade, and as far as I could recall, I did have a life, not that I could remember much, before I was eaten by that…_thing_, if one could call it that. The thing that ate me was covered with black tentacle-hand things. There were so many of the tendrils that only a bird-like mask with a perfect hole in the forehead was the only thing that didn't look plant-like.

When it ate me, I thought that was it, game over, you loosed. But instead of nothingness, I wound up watching this plant-bird did from its perspective, or maybe, I was stuck in my new head as my new body did as it wanted?

The days turned into weeks, then months, and then finally a year and a half passed before anything new happened. In a large clearing in the middle of this stone tree forest, my body, now that I have come to terms and accepted my new faith (unlike a few thousand others in here), joined a massive throng of others equally as ugly. I did not understand what was to happen until the mass of creatures, including me, began to merge. To say that the pain was excruciating was the understatement of the eternity.

My mind must of maid some connection to the neural system or something, because I _feel_ the entire process; combine, grow, and expand. When the merger ended I discovered that I had some sway over movement and that I could feel the entire body.

"This," I said, discovering that I could get my transformed body to speak "cannot mean anything good."

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><p>UPDATE 828/12: spelling mistakes pointed out by vantweet; thank you vanweet.

I know not that long of a chapter.

Well, what do you think?


	2. Powerup and Party get

Disclamer: I don't own bleach… for that matter, I don't own anything anime related unless I just made it or it's on my deviant art page under the same name.

_Thought_: me

**Thought: **innerhollow

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><p>It took me a while to get used to feeling my body, again. What I knew should feel familiar to me, felt foreign. Not surprising, in consideration I was now a 50 foot giant thing wearing a cloak that covered all but my feet, hands, spikes that went around my neck, and an ovular mask with a vertical line in the middle.<p>

_Well, now that I can actually move, what the bloody hell am I?_

**You are a hollow, more specifically, a Gillian at this point.**

_What the, are you a voice in my head?_

**I am so much more than that. I am you, your instincts, subconscious, etc. I exist to make sure that you, and by extension me, live long enough to become a Vasto Lorde.**

_Vasto-what?_

**Here, let me educate you as to your new existence. **

I grabbed my head in pain as large amounts of information were forced into my mind, everything from menos and cero, to Arrancars and Resurrección. **There, now you know everything you need to have a fighting chance, I did this so that **_**I**_** will live longer. If you need help, well, don't get into a situation where you need it. Also, a reminder, in your current state you can't move relatively fast. So don't go strait for your meal. **After that my mind was silent. As much as I disliked the idea of cannibalism, I had no choice in the matter.

After taking a few moments to review what information was relevant to my current state, I set off, going towards the nearest Reiatsu source that equaled my own.

"Well," I muttered, "out of the pan and into the fire"

After about an hours walking, I finally found the Gillian I was looking for. Luckily for me, it had yet to notice me. So, taking advantage of its obliviousness, I went towards it in a curved path to make dogging easier. When I covered two thirds of the distance, I fired a cero at the back of its head. The sudden blast was enough to disorient it long enough for me to get up close and bite its mask in half. **Good, now eat the rest it!** Again I did not like the idea, but I complied none the less. The Gillian did not have much of any taste to it, it just felt like meat.

After I finished the body, what ever scraps that were left were eaten by the menos that were around, I immediately felt the change. Of course there was no physical change, but the power, I felt my own power double from eating the Gillian. **Don't celebrate yet,** the voice warned, **you are no-where near an Adjuchas yet. You will need to eat many more to transform to the next stage…that is unless, you manage to eat one your self, then you'll transform on the spot. **I nodded in agreement. It made sense, eat something more powerful than yourself and you become that much more powerful.

It wasn't until much later, after walking a few kilometers and eating whatever menos got to close, that I happened upon a queer sight, in the middle of the clearing I walked into, the whole area was covered with dead menos. I mean literally, every patch of sand/dirt, and even a few of the stone trees roots, were covered with corpses. And in the middle of it all was this tactical-plant-thing. Its mask features a rather small jaw, only having four teeth on top and five on bottom, with three light-purple over its left eye.

We stood there staring at each other, its two visible and my one vertical slit. Finally after what felt like hours the plant spoke

"Hello" it said.

"The same to you" I replied

Another pregnant silent filled the air as we waited for the other to speak. This time I broke the silence.

"I am Xander Shade, Gillian," I said with a 'small' bow, "what is yours?"

It was silent for a moment and then responded "Luppi Antenor, Adjuchas"

I was surprised, "I know that Adjuchas are supposed to bee smaller than gillians, but you seam rather…small."

If it took offense to this, it ether brushed it off or ignored it all together. Either way it walked off a bit and started to eat a huge boa constrictor-like menos, with mannerism that I thought that no hollow could ever possess. Without even looking towards me it said, "Go a head and help yourself to the rest, I ate earlier." Not needing any further encouragement; I helped my self to handfuls of menos. Under one of the upraised roots was another fallen hollow; but this one was, for a lack of a better word, different. Even though the shark-morph was dead, its body still gave off a large amount of Reiatsu.

Eventually I ate it as well, and I immediately regretted it. Pain wracked my entire body; my nerves felt like they were on fire, my body creaking and groaning as it compressed and twisted. I let out cries of pain the entire time. When the change was over, I was left on my hands and knees. The cloak I had as a Gillian had shrunk with me and changed to a dark blue, the top turning into a hood. I now had four arms that stretched two meters in length, and my boots were now replaced with some sort of armored version that went up to my knees. My mask turned onto a helmet, again with the same missing middle section, but this time, there were ornate spikes around where my cheek bones were. The last new appearance was the dark blond pony-tail that came out of the back of the helmet and out of the hood on my left.

"Well, aren't you the fascinating thing, turning in to an Adjuchas after eating one? I think I'll hang around you and see what other surprises happen." Luppi chuckled to itself.

_Shit, I get to have a plant as company now. _And with that thought, I passed out.

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><p>well, there is the second chapter.<p> 


	3. The Panther king

Disclaimer: I don't own bleach… for that matter, I don't own anything anime related unless I just made it or it's on my deviant art page under the same name.

I now have a proofreader, so no more spelling mistakes! (Hopefully)

_Thought_: me

**Speech: **innerhollow

Speech/thought: Zanpakutō spirit

_Dramatic emphasis_

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><p><strong>My Inner-world<strong>

"…well," I said to myself, "this is an interesting development." I knew I lost consciousness some time ago, but I was expecting to wake up and learn that some time has passed, not wind up on a pillar in the middle of a vast…ocean? Or maybe it's an expansive lake. _Well that's not relevant to my situation. I'm standing on one of very many pillars in a large body of water. _Not knowing what to do, I decided to start walking in a random direction. As I did, broken pieces of stone rose from the water, creating a bridge for me to walk on.

It wasn't until the tenth pillar that something happened. When I set both of my feet on it a Reiatsu source suddenly appeared. Now under normal circumstances I would have just ignored it, but the new guest appeared behind me, _right where I started_. I turned around to greet the newcomer, but when I did I found that 1) no one was behind me, and 2) the Reiatsu signature was still behind me.

"You know," addressing the newcomer, "I can't properly greet you if I can't face you."

Before I could say anything else, a person seemed to just flicker in to existence on the other side of the pillar I was standing on. The man before me was a tall thin man with pale skin and shaggy, dark brown hair and two bangs dropping and crossing over the bridge of his nose. He had turquoise-colored eyes circled by purple marks similar the design of his clothes. One of his most prominent features was his long fingernails. He wore a long white robe-like coat; the collar of the robe was covered with a thick fur, featuring a purple ascot fastened by a ruby brooch. He was also wearing a wide sash at his waist, decorated by a purple stripe, and boots with pointed tips similar to those worn by Gillian-class Menos. Another thing I noticed was a full jaw mask fragment on his jaw.

"Well," I began, surprised by his appearance, "you certainly look like an interesting character."

"And you look like an Adjuchas. How did you get in here?"

"I mistakenly ate an Adjuchas, became one, fell unconscious, and wound up here, in that order"

"Interesting," he mused,"then it is to be presumed that this is your Inner-world?"

"Inner-world, an environment constructed by one's subconscious that represents their soul." I stated, repeating what information I knew. Taking a moment to look around at what was supposedly my mind. After a moment of deliberating, I made my response; "Yes, this world represents me accurately, I remember very little, things that are not relevant to my former life. Also, I know only what I need to do to survive in my new 'life.' I have yet to learn anything that is not relevant to survival."

"What about the one you just met?"

"I just met him-"

"Her," he interrupted.

"What?"

"The one you met, and is now currently watching over you, is female."

"Well," I said,"I'll make sure to remember that. Um…pardon my rudeness," I said bowing with both of my left hands over my stomach, "my name is Xander Shade. Might I ask of yours?"

"…Muramasa."

"It's my pleasure to make your acquaintance. Do you know how I'm supposed to get out of here?"

"Yes." He moved into arms length of me and poked me on my forehead with the pad of his right index finger. When he did that everything began to fade to black. The last thing I herd from him was, "I'll keep in touch"

**Cave above the menos forest**

As I started to awaken I noticed two things; one, a very sweet aroma in the air and two, someone was humming softly. Finally managing to open my eyes, not that anyone could notice, I sat up and took a look at my surroundings. I was apparently placed in the back of this small cave, and Luppi was at the entrance, doing what appeared to be treading a strap of cloth through something.

"So, how long was I out?" I asked walking up next to hi-, er…her.

"Oh, I don't know, a day maybe. You know, it's not very polite to have a lady carry you all the way up here."

"So you are a girl." She nodded yes. "Well, that explains the voice…"

"You know," she began, "If you said that to me five days ago I would have blasted your head off."

"Why?"

"You are aware that Adjuchas have abilities that are unique to themselves, right?" I nodded. "Well in a nutshell, I fought an Adjuchas that had one of the most perverted abilities ever; he could change the gender of anyone. You can figure the rest out for yourself."

She was right; it didn't take much imagination to figure out that the poor bastard faced the wrath of a woman turned man. I cringed at the thought of what horrors she did to him. After that a rather one-sided silence began as Luppi resumed her work threading a cloth on a sword in her lap. When she finish, she grabbed the sheath and handed it towards me. "Here."

"What?"

"It's your sword, it materialized next to you ten minutes ago. The cloth is from your cloak," she explained as I took it. The sword was actually a katana with a dull red sheath, purple hilt-wrapping and a guard in a shape similar to a stylized v with a solid o around it. While inspecting my cloak so I could figure out how to attach the katana to it (and figure out what part Luppi used for the strap), I discovered a series of hoops around the middle of my lower cloak, and stringed the strap through the hoops, thus securing the katana to my left hip.

"Well, now what?" I asked

"Now we go out and become Vasto Lordes." Luppi answered.

"And how do we do that; find, beat, and eat one?"

"Well, that wasn't my idea, but that would work. Of course, we would definitely need more than just the two of us to do that…" she muttered to herself.

Again she was right; two Adjuchas stood no chance against one Vasto Lorde, which is just suicide. "Then again, so is fighting the world's superpowers, but that didn't stop Hitler…" I mused as a memory fragment was remembered.

Luppi looked to me; "Who?"

"Some guy named Adolf Hitler. He was a dictator of sorts, tried to take over the world of the living or something like that."

"Hmm, sounds familiar…"

"Well, standing around never got anything done. Let's go and see if any one will join our hair-brained scheme," I said going forth into the grey desert.

And so we set off in some random direction and hope for the best. During said travel, we encountered suspiciously large groups of menos, ranging from basic to Adjuchas. Between Luppi squeezing their heads off and me firing multiple ceros and cutting them with my katana, we encountered few problems. No, what bugged me was how many there were; we, on average, fought at least twenty-five hollows of varying types (mostly menos) when ever we were assaulted. I eventually learned, after getting myself to bug Luppi about it, why we were constantly 'raped' by such large groups.

Apparently when she fought that perv hollow, her being turned into a female gave her the ability to produce pheromones that attract other hollows from _long _distance away. Not only did this explain the constant cluster-fuck we had to deal with, it also explained the scene I met her at.

"Xander." Luppi called after the most recent hollow group slaughter

"Yeah?"

"You remember that person you talked about back at the cave?"

"Yes, Adolf Hitler, Why do you ask?"

"I remember why he sounds familiar; there is a Vasto Lorde in the forest that goes by that name. Also, I think I may know where he is at."

"Well," I said in thought, "we have a target, now we need support."

After a few days travel (or as close to days you can get with permanent night) we came upon a rather large hill of sand. What we saw in the valley just over it was quite interesting. We spied a group of five Adjuchas and one Gillian. One of the Adjuchas, the one that resembled an earwig, noticed us and alerted the others. When they turned back to stare at us (not an easy task considering the distance), I decided at that point to wave to see what they would do. The earwig Adjuchas, fortunately, waved back. Taking that as an invitation to approach, it took some convinced Luppi to come along (she did not like the vibes from the feline one).

"Greetings and salutations fellow Adjuchas," I began, trying not to get me and Luppi eaten, "we have a proposition for you."

The panther Adjuchas walked over in front of the rest, "I am Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, the king of this group, what would you two possibly have to offer us?"

Luppi took this as her cue; "A shortcut to becoming a Vasto Lorde"

Grimmjow visibly stiffened at this. Taking a few moments to debate this in his head, he responded; "You have my, limited, attention"

"You see," I began, "me and Luppi, my companion here, have, accidentally, so to speak, discovered a method to bypass the natural method of eating every hollow in sight to progress to the next evolutionary state. That method, of course, is to consume a member of said state. Now before you object and say that that is impossible, let me prove it. A little over a weak ago I was just an average Gillian, of whom was only a day old. Some time later I, somewhat unknowingly, ate a fallen Adjuchas and then turned into an Adjuchas myself. Now it stands to reason that if an Adjuchas were to eat a Vasto Lorde, they would in turn into one."

Taking a pause from my speech, I gave the panther time to digest the information. I saw in his eyes that he knew what I was getting at, and the smirk he had told me he liked the idea. _ I have this in the bag, _I thought.

"We happen to know where a Vasto Lorde may be. I propose we band to gather, find him, beat him, eat him, and become Vasto Lordes ourselves. Of course, from the look of your group, you are the only one that would benefit from this…arrangement, you could say. The reward you would gain is more than worth the risk, so how's about it?"

"Let me discuss this with my companions," Grimmjow stated, turning to his group.

During the time he took to whisper with them, Luppi decided to share her concerns about Grimmjow, said that he seemed only interested in getting more powerful, and would eat us if given the chance. Her worry is rightly place, Muramasa whipped in my mind, he does not look or feel like the trustworthy type. After getting over the fact that Muramasa just spoke to me out of the blue (or is it 'black' in Hueco Mundo?), I quickly dismissed their troubles with two simple facts; one, _Luppi_ knew where the Vasto Lordes (possible) location, and tow, _Grimmjow_ would need all the help he could get to have a chance agents Hitler.

"Oi," Grimmjow called, grabbing our attention, "we'll join you, on one condition."

"And that is?" Luppi questioned.

"Some time ago, some shinigami 'renegade' came and asked me to join an army he is making to fight the shinigami, said he needed the strongest hollows he could find. Apparently the hollows he had with him became stronger when they became Arrancar, so I told him I would join _after_ I became a Vasto Lorde so I could get more powerful than that. Anyway, he asked me to 'invite' anyone 'note worthy' while I worked at my goal. Basically what I'm saying is this; we help you, you join us."

"That," I said, covering Luppi's mouth before she could make an objection, "is more than agreeable, let us be off then."

As we set off to our new destination, in the same direction Luppi and I arrived in, she whispered to me, "Are you sure about this?"

"If I wasn't, then we would not be doing this," I replied.

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><p>There's chapter 3, about 6 pages of work. I'm impressed with my self.<p>

Why do I have Muramasa, because he is my all-time favorite Zanpakutō. It's a shame what append to him, the abuse and being abandon.

my Adjuchas form has been uploaded on to deviant art, link is in my profile.

also, in my profile is a poll you may want to take a look at.

Next chapter: the fight agents Hitler.


	4. Village just revelation, dictator falls

Disclaimer: I don't own bleach… for that matter, I don't own anything anime related unless I just made it or it's on my deviant art page under the same name.

I now have a proofreader, so no more spelling mistakes! (Hopefully)

Thank you Timefather64 for being the first to review

_Thought_: me

**Speech: **inner-hollow

Speech/thought: Zanpakutō spirit

_Dramatic emphasis_

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><p>During the trip back, of witch consisted of more cluster fuck attacks that were now less of a problem for the eight of us, I decided to get some questions answered; <em>Hey Muramasa. <em>Yes Xander?_ I've been meaning to ask you something, what are you?_ I am a shinigami Zanpakutō and, as of when you woke up, your possible partner. _Possible, you mean to say that you already have a partner?_

When I asked this, he remained silent for a time, but eventually confessed; Yes, I _had_ a partner. You see, I was faithful to him, when he needed my, I was there for him. Their eventually came a time when a civil war broke out in Soul Society, and it was our power that turned the war in favor of Seireitei, the capital of Soul Society and location of the shinigami military. During the time after the war, Kōga, my former partner, begun to feel…under appreciated, and I, being faithful and loyal as I am, comforted him though his depression. 

It wasn't long before tragedy struck; he was framed a traitor. I inspired Kōga to seek justice, but I soon learned that was a mistake. I only had good intentions for him, but they turned sour when he killed the men behind the act and suffered a mental-breakdown from the realization that his life as he knew it, came to an end. I voiced my disapproval my partner's actions, when he began to kill innocent bystanders, only to be rebuked for my efforts. He continued down this path, becoming more insane, killing more people, and…eventually began to abuse me. The disharmony between us cut the link we had, and I soon realized that my wielder died by my hands.

As he finished I not only sense his despair, but could feel it. _Muramasa, don't blame yourself, if anyone is to blame it's __Kōga. You did what any loyal, faithful __Zanpakutō should have done; help your partner get out of a self-induced rut. You tried to guide him back to the right path, but __he__ did not listen to you. You are not to blame, he only has himself to blame._ What I said must have had some effect on him, because the next minute I no longer felt the depression he gave off. You are right Xander, I did what I could, but Kōga did not listen. I now have a question for you; will you have me as your partner? Staying true to Luppi's opinion of me being 'fascinating' I simply replied; _it would be my honor, Muramasa._

Leaving Muramasa with his answer, I refocused my self to the outer world. Apparently during that conversation, we stopped in front of a large hole in the ground, in when I say large I mean _large_. It would be a safe bet that ten Gillians could walk through it with room to spare.

"I suppose that this is where this 'Adolf' can be found?" Shawlong asked.

"Yeap, some where down there," Luppi replied.

I suggested to the group that we came up with a plan of attack. Grimmjow just wanted to get in there and fight, but Shawlong convinced him otherwise. He proposed that Grimmjow, Luppi, and I confront Hitler directly while he and the rest of the group keep any of his underlings at bay. So with our plan set, we took the plunge down into the deep.

After a quick search, me, Luppi, and Grimmjow found ourselves walking into a rather large clearing. The entire area was cleared out to make some sort of roman arena, and sitting on a stone throne on an elevated platform, was none other than Adolf Hitler. What I was expecting to see was fare more complex then what I saw; to put it simply, he was a humanoid ape-thing with a tail, no fur on his chest, pail skin, a mask that was set with a permanent sneer, and baggy pants held in place by a sash.

(AN: badly written accent imminent)

"Ah," he said, "Vat do I have herr, a ket, a plant, und a…zhing. Vell, I guess you vant to fight me zen, ja?

"Yes you accented freak!" Grimmjow retorted.

"ZEN UN GARUD," he yelled.

The next thing we knew we knew, we were slammed into different parts of the wall. Grimmjow recovered immediately and started to engage Hitler, Luppi kept a distance, attacking with her tendrils, and I joined Grimmjow trying to cut him with Muramasa. Hitler acted like we were the slowest things in Hueco Mundo; he ether dogged our strikes or caught us and threw us like a sack of potatoes. _DAMN, this is a lot harder than I thought._

And it went like this for some time, we attacked and he batted it away like it was nothing. Also, the constant being thrown into a wall was wearing us down fast. I had just about lost hope until Muramasa pointed something out; He seems intent on keeping you all in front of him. When he mentioned that, I did notice that Hitler wouldn't let us behind him. _Now that I think a bout it, it seems that he doesn't want us near his…_And then it came to me.

"Luppi, Grimmjow," I yelled, "Aim for his tail, he has been keeping it away from us the entire time!"

At this, Hitler visibly cringed. Now with his weakness exposed, he stopped playing around and started firing ceros at us. To say we were barley able to doge them was an understatement; we barley managed to avoid so that they just grazed us. I can help you, Muramasa whispered to me, you just need to call on me. _OK, how do I do that?_ Say the command and then my name, then focus your Reiryoku and say…

"Whisper, Muramasa," I proclaimed.

Just from that, a large wave of purple light went forth from the sword and caught every one else off guard. Immediately I focused what power I could in to Muramasa.

"Yūkōjōchū Muramasa"

This time a large explosion of Reiryoku occurred and before Hitler could react to it, he got blasted into the wall by a violet cero, standing in the middle of where the explosion occurred, stood Muramasa in the flesh, and looked like an Adjuchas.

"Luppi, Grimmjow," I said, grabbing their attention, "I'll explain later. Right now, let's focus on bringing this monkey down."

Now with our new group member, we charged at the still dazed Hitler with renewed effort. The barrage of fists, tendrils, claws, and arm-spikes that befell the monkey Nazi was, for a lack of a better word, an utter crack-down. To ensure that he didn't get act to gather; I held his legs, Luppi kept his arms at his side, Grimmjow kept his tail outstretched, leaving the honor of cutting it off to Muramasa. After the tail came off, all the fight Hitler had vanished; leaving him venerable to the feeding frenzy that ensued.

Bits and pieces of him flew every where as we, minus Muramasa as he dismissed him self, ate Hitler alive. I can't say he didn't deserve it for what he done in his life. It took a few moments for anything to happen, but then there were three massive surges of Reiryoku and Reiatsu. In fact, they were so large, that we couldn't even see each other as we transformed. This time I felt no pain; just the shifting of bones and an increasing weight on my head.

Eventually the scene returned to normal, and my vision was no longer obscured. Taking the time to investigate hoe I changed, I discovered quite a few things; firstly, I had gain a few inches in height and now stood 6'3." Second, my mask turned into a helmet that had three large points on the top and sides of it. The next thing was that I had _three_ pairs of arms, one where they should be and two sets coming out of my back that were both _long_ and could bend anywhere at any angle. The last two things I noticed that my cloak was now more similar to Muramasa's (except that it was blue and black) and they I had a curious lack of a hole anywhere on my body. _Weird,_ I thought.

Where Grimmjow stood was now an anthro-version of himself. _Well, that isn't much of a change. I wonder what Lup-,_ was what I thought before my brain stopped. I found myself blushing somewhat when I saw Luppi; she still stood 5'3," but now she had some form of a backpack with four thick tendrils coming out of it. She now had four arms that split at the elbow, and her legs and waist were covered with what appeared to be roots. The only words that went though my head were _beautiful_ and something named Botanica.

"What, am I so beautiful that you have no words left?" She giggled.

Quickly turning to Grimmjow, thankful that my mask hides my blush, I said, "Well, your part of the deal is done, now it's off to this shinigami's army."

Nodding, he led us out of the arena. Once reuniting with the rest of the group, of witch Di roy died due to a stray cero, we left off to a place Shawlong referred to as 'Las Noches.'

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><p>Well, not as long as the previous one, but still long.<p>

Let's see how many of you can find all the references there are in this chapter.

Also my Vasto Lorde form is up, link in profile

i just realized that the poll was not displayed on my profile, it should be now.

Next up: Meeting the leader


	5. Fall of the Arrogant King

Disclaimer: I don't own bleach… for that matter, I don't own anything anime related unless I just made it or it's on my deviant art page under the same name.

I now have a proofreader, so no more spelling mistakes! (Hopefully)

_Thought_: me

**Speech: **innerhollow

Speech/**thought**: Zanpakutō spirit

_Dramatic emphasis_

RnR

"So Grimmjow, how long did you say it would take to get the front gate?" I asked for the hundredth time.

"It will take as long as it takes to get there, now shut up Xander," Grimmjow growled back.

"Oh relax; it's not my fault that your 'brute force' tactic didn't win you our spar."

It had been ten days since me, Luppi, And Grimmjow became Vasto Lordes. And since then, we have been moving at top speed, a.k.a. as fast as Grimm's pack could move, to Las Noches. Nine days ago Grimmjow challenged me to a mach; he lost, and is still sore about it. Five days back, we finally found the place, only to discover that Las Noches was immense. From where we were now the dome superimposed the moon a few minutes ago, and it was still growing in size.

"Wow," Luppi quipped from atop my back, of witch she convinced me to let her rid on, "this place must be some sort of kingdom, or at least a castle for a god of sorts."

Luppi was right on that, the place was big enough to intimidate Grimmjow, and he isn't the type to be intimidated at all. To make a long story short, it took another three days to reach the front gate, however, there was someone waiting there for us, a shinigami. He stood at least 6'1," had shaggy-combed hair, as much as that seemed impossible, with one lock hanging over his face. He wore a white cloak, not to dissimilar to my own, with a white robe and purple sash underneath.

"I must say Grimmjow, I expected you to take up my offer, but I never imaged that you would bring two more Vasto Lordes with you. I'm impressed," the man said.

"Hurmph," Grimm grunted. Signaling the others to move forward, he left me and Luppi with the shinigami.

"Hello and welcome, I am Aizen Sōsuke, the ruler of Las Noches," he introduced.

"I'm Xander Shade, and this is Luppi Antenor. Where hear to join your army, as per our agreement with Grimmjow." Without another word he led us in.

To say I was rendered speechless by Las Noches's interior had been another understatement; the inside was beyond huge, and it had a sky with clouds, as well as smaller palaces in it. Of course there was no time to take in the views, Aizen waned us turned in Arrancars as soon as possible so he could sort out the restructuring of the 'Espada,' who ever they were. The process wasn't very note worthy, he lead us to a room and showed us a black sphere in a glass box, there was a flash of light, and we both looked like shinigami our selves.

(AN: I'm not going to detail the transformation into Arrancar, just appearances)

Luppi's 'human' appearance surprised me; she looked rather youthful, with short black hair that was unevenly cut, lavender eyes, and a childish face. Just above her left eyebrow was a row of three pink stars. The remains of her Hollow mask (a top row of teeth) rested on the left side of her head. Another thing I noticed, naturally with me being a male, was that her chest had to be the size of ripe apples; I again was left with a noticeable blush on my face.

As for me, I apparently had blue/green eyes, average white skin, and long dirt-blond hair with a widow's peak that was tied into a pony-tail that reached to the middle of my back. I also had an athletic build to my body, most likely due to all the running and fighting that occurred. My mask fragment consisted of one inch of the jaw portion of my mask.

After that, we were lead to different changing rooms, filled with varying cloths and garments for men and women respectively. After some time picking around, I found myself wearing blue and black version of what shinigami are supposed to wear, except the cloak was more like a long coat, with both Muramasa and my new starch white nodachi hanging from my left hip. When I came out, I found that Luppi was waiting for me.

"Well," she said, "you sure like to stand out, with a _blue_ and black color scheme."

"What can I say, I like blue. Besides, I'm not the one with their sword just under their armpit," I said, noting her appearance.

After that, 'lord' Aizen, as he insisted us to call him, lead us through several large white halls until we wound up in a large meeting room with an elevated throne with a long table with ten seats in front of it. As he took his seat on the throne, I noticed that five of said seats were already filled; the first a man with shaggy brown hair who was asleep on the table, the one across occupied by a large old man, next to the sleeper was an exotic looking dark-skin long hair woman, in the chair across from her was the most emo looking person I had ever seen, and finally in the fifth chair was Grimm, with his feet up on the table in his typical mannerism.

"Well Grimmjow," I said, startling him, "I see that you are still shorter than me, yeah?" His only response was a grunt.

"Now then, Xander, Luppi, Grimmjow, I would like you to meet Coyote Starrk, Baraggan Louisenbairn, Tier Harribel, and Ulquiorra Cifer. They are the primera, segunda, tres, and cuatro Espada respectively. Grimmjow has already shown that he deserves the position of quinto after dispatching Nnortra when he challenge Grimmjow to a battle. Luppi shall be placed at sexta, being that the number of vasto lordes we have recruited."

"Xander, due to your…unique situation," Aizen continued, motioning to Muramasa, "you will have to fight Baraggan so that we can asses your capabilities. The match will begin later this evening outside Las Noches. That is all for now."

After he finished his speech and we left the meeting room, I told Luppi and Grimmjow that I was going to get ready for the fight. _Huh, one fight after another; will it ever end...well no use getting sentimental over it, I need information on Baraggan._ If I may make a suggestion, Xander, Muramasa said, asking Harribel may be the most productive use of what time we have. **I agree with the ****Zanpakutō, **my hollow said breaking its silence,** the other two don't seem talkative, and the old coot wouldn't reveal anything about himself.** With both sides agreeing I immediately went off to find Harribel.

**One hour later**

"…Fucking Naraka," I muttered, running into another dead end, "That's the fiftieth one."

My search for Harribel was not doing very well. I had run into more dead ends than I could count on my release state hands. When I was just about to give up, I herd the distinctive sounds of an ensuing cat fight. Following the yelling to its source I found an interesting scene; there were three girls in a group, one with long hair and pail skin, the other with short navy-blue hair with eyes each a different color, and a tall Amazon girl with a brown main.

The Amazon was arguing with the eye-girl, with the third adding a smart remark here and there. They were so focused on the topic that they didn't even notice that I came in.

"Um…excuse me?" I tried asking, to no avail, "hello…new guy with a question standing right behind 'yall."

But it was no use; they just did not notice me. **Hey, I have an idea; all you need to do is…**the hollow whispered in my mind. Seeing no other way that could work, I unleashed a small portion of Reiryoku to se if that would work and to my surprise it did. All three of them went as stiff as a board and slowly turned towards me.

"Sorry about the sudden Reiatsu," I apologized, "I've been trying to ask you a question, but you all just kept arguing. By the way, I'm Xander Shade."

"I'm Cyan Sung-Sun; to my left is Emilou Apacci, and to my right is Franceska Mila Rose. I'm sorry about the argument, these two don't know how to behave," Sung-sun remarked.

"Anyway," I said, preventing the other two from yelling, "I have a few questions for Harribel about Baraggan."

The told me that she just went out a few moments ago, but suggested that I stay and wait for her return. So I sat down on one of the couches and had a light conversation with them. It mostly consisted mostly of me explaining my past, my current situation, and how I wound up with a shinigami Zanpakutō.

"Well, I don't know how I got him," I confessed, "all that I know is that I do have him and that we're partners now. If you want his opinion, you can ask him yourself."

Before they could question how, a cough drew their attention and were literally scared out of their socks to find Muramasa standing behind them.

"Oh yeah," I said rubbing my head sheepishly, "I forgot to tell you about that, that's one of his special abilities. He can manifest himself in the physical world of his own free will."

"Yes, this way I'm able to assist Xander better in combat," Muramasa explained, "also Xander, you do relies that Harribel has been standing in the door way for the past five minutes right?"

Looking towards the doorway, I found that he was right; there was Harribel leaning on the door frame with an amused look in her eyes. Muramasa decided then to dismiss himself as Harribel took a seat between the girls and simply asked "You have a question for me?"

"Yes," I responded, "I would like to know what Baraggan I capable of in regard to abilities and powers."

She seemed to think for a moment before saying "I am aware of a fiwe of his abilities and I will tell you if you do something for me in return, after your battle with him."

"Agreed," I replied with out missing a beat.

I swore I saw a smile in her eyes when she spoke, "Baraggan is able to dilate time around himself, slowing everything around him. This turns in to aging anything to dust that is within a certain distance of his person when he releases. This is why his aspect of death is 'ageing,' I advise to keep a distance away from him."

Before I could say anything, a nameless Arrancar came and informed me that it was time for my battle. Saying a quick good bye, I left with my guide to the selected area that shall serve as the arena. When we got there I saw that a small crowd, including Starrk, 'lord' Aizen and his compatriots, Luppi, Grimmjow, Harribel surprisingly, Ulquiorra, and what I assumed to be the rest of the Espada, had gathered to watch the fight. My opponent was standing on the other side with a massive axe in his right hand.

"There is only one rule to this fight," Aizen proclaimed, "don't kill your opponent if it is reasonably practical."

_Basically, only one of us is coming out alive, great. Kuro, _I called to my newly named inner hollow, _collaborate a method with Muramasa to take this guy down with out sword-to-axe action. _With out waiting for a response, I fired a blue-rimmed violet Bala at Baraggan, but when it got close to him it slowed down and he just sidestepped it.

"It is useless," he commented, "you stand against a force you cannot hope to under stand; but I'll humor you and make your inevitable death quick, you whelp. Rot, _Arrogante_"

When he said that last sentence, the slit-eye pendant between the axe-blades started to generate red spiritual energy, and then released numerous jet-black/purple flames that literally burned away his flesh, reducing his entire body to little more than a skeleton, even his head became a skull and his hands and arms reduced to bone. However, he retained both of his armbands. Soon after, Baraggan's body becomes draped in a purple cloak, with a pitch-black tattered fur collar around his neck area and the fringes of his cloak. Several lengths of golden chain, originally worn like a belt around his waist, now dangle out of either of his armbands.

The pendant from his Zanpakutō was now worn at the center of his chest near his neck, and looked like an elegant pendant. The sandals of his uniform became white, pointed-toe boots. His crown-like mask fragment turned into a full, extravagantly-decorated and bejeweled crown that featured a chain which runs downward on the left side. He still retained the scar present on his right eye from his previous form, now visible as an apparent crack in the same location. After his transformation, the entire area around him began to deteriorate to nothing. Luckily I was to faraway for it to affect me; _well, no time like the present, _I thought as I drew my nodichi and held it forward.

"Rise, Primer Emperador."

After I said that, I was enveloped by blue/violet Reiryoku as my Resurrección occurred. Admittedly, mine wasn't as dramatic as Baraggan's, but it did what it was supposed to do in restoring me to my former state. With that I began to fire several balas and ceros at a time at him. I tried any thing I could think of to hit him; changing angles, increasing fire rate, but he just stood their mocking me with his blabbering of age and time as my attacks simply aged to nothing.

"What's the matter whelp? All that power you have in you and nothing to show for it, pathetic," he mocked.

Eventually got fed up enough that I charged a super-dense cero with my four tendril-arms and lunched it at him, and what happened next shocked me; the cero didn't dissipate as fast like my previous attempts, actually it got close enough to him that he hat to _move _to avoid it. That little discovery I made, however, cost me some time to recover from it, time that Baraggan took advantage of.

"Respira," he yelled.

Soon a black and purple mist began to emanate from him and fast, every thing it touched aged to dust; and it was heading strait for me. Despite my speed, of witch was able to match Grimmjow's if I bushed my self, my top left tendril's index finger was barley brushed by the fog before it stopped advancing, and my finger began to dissipate. **CUT IT OFF! **Kuro screamed at me, **CUT IT OFF BE FOR IT GETS TO YOUR BODY!**

Not even hesitating for a moment, I drew Muramasa and cut the arm off at the base. It was pain full, but a lot better than what could have happen. _So this is what Harribel meant by 'age to dust,' but something isn't right, _I thought as I watched the effects of the Respira, _something that absolute must effect everything; so why is Baraggan not affected._ I continued to watch and think as the stump that was my arm regenerated its self. While I was doing this, Baraggan went into another blabber spree.

"What's the matter, _whelp,_ struck silent by fear? You should be, nothing is spared from my Respira, Nothing. So, you might as well except your enviable death now."

And then it hit me; I now knew how his power worked and how to beat him. _Muramasa, i need you to detract him for as long as you can with out getting touched by that fog._ With out any response, Muramasa began to do just that; and he did it while making it look like I created him out of thin air.

"Oh, you also have a cloning ability? It shall make no difference, you will die," Baraggan said, falling for the ruse.

While he was focused on Muramasa, I again cut off one of my tendril arms, but this time I straitened it out and began to pored Reiryoku, causing it to condense into a javelin-like shape. With that done, i waited for when Barraggan's back was turn towards me, and when it was I launched the javelin as hard and fast as I could manage. Muramasa saw this and took it as his cue to return to my inner world, I could feel his relief to be away from that fog.

Baraggan stopped for only a moment when Muramasa disappeared; his mistake. That moment was all the time for what was left of my javelin to brush past the bottom portion of his cloak.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE," he yelled.

"I won," was my reply, "like you said it your self; nothing is spared from your Respira, Nothing, not even you."

After I said that, Baraggan screamed in rage and, in a last ditch effort, through his axe at me, but it completely disintegrated when it came to a foot away from me. And just like that, the arrogant king was no more.

Well, that was a long one.

As for my uniform, I'm basically wearing a clean-cut version of Ichigo's bankai out fit in the same color and pattern as my VL cloak.

I was planning to make this two chapters, but i decided to make is one

remember to review, the story can't get any better unless I get opinions other than my own.


	6. Traning begins and Voting faith

Disclaimer: I don't own bleach.

Sorry for the long update, graduation, house renovation, and job-searching eating up my time.

Any way, let's git this gravy train a flowin'.

* * *

><p>"You have got to be kidding me," I yelled, "this fight is clearly in your favor, and yet the three of you <em>still<em> can't land a hit on me."

Sung-Sun, Apacci, and Mila Rose were laying on the sand, in their Resurrección, bruised and beaten. And why was this, one would ask? I was training them as per my agreement with Harribel-san.

_-Flashback-_

"_You want me to what?" I asked._

"_I would like for you to teach my Fracción how to work as a team," Harribel explained, "I would do it my self, but you would be the better teacher, given your circumstance."_

_-end Flashback-_

"How do you expect us to be able to stand a chance agent you, you're the _Segundo_ espada for crying out loud," Apacci whined.

I just stared at her for a moment, wondering if she was partly blind in her eyes and gave my response.

"Luppi-chan has latched herself to my back, her hilt prodding the left side of my rib-cage; Runuganga is holding my feet and legs in place, slowing my movement to a crawl; and finally, I'm using only one arm to combat the three of you in your_ Resurrección_ forms. If of anything, I am completely at a disadvantage, you have the biggest handicap of all time so far, and you still wind-up beaten senseless."

"That will be all for today; Runuganga, would you kindly release my legs."

The three of them groaned as the sand withdrew itself from my legs. It had been three days ago that I started their 'team building,' and progress was abysmal; Apacci and Mila were constantly at each other's thoughts, and Sung-sun was just fuel for the fire. It was a wonder how they managed to come up with the idea for that beast of a 'pet' of theirs. The idea was sound, but if they couldn't cooperate with each other, then neither will Ayon.

_And then there is Aizen's true intentions for us,_ I thought. I had of recently learned that most of us were here because they did not want to get in the way of his plans. What his plans were, however, were not clear; he said he was here to help, but Muramasa, Primer Emperador (my inner-hollow), and I all agreed: Aizen was up to something, and it was going to kill most of us.

* * *

><p>At the <em>front gate<em> entrance (put there per my request so we don't wander through halls), Grimmjow was standing there tapping his foot impatiently like he was standing there for a while.

"Aizen-sama called a meeting two hours ago," he grunted.

"And you didn't do the sensible thing and come to retrieve us," I questioned.

He merely scoffed and Sonídoed away, Luppi and I followed shortly after. At the gathering hall, all but the second, sixth, and eighth seat filled.

"What happened to Cirucci," I prodded as I took my spot at the second seat, "did she get replaced or something?"

"Yes," Tōsen responded, "she was recently replaced by Szayel."

And as if on queue, a pink-haired man came in through the main doors and took his seat. Now that everyone was here Aizen cleared his thought, grabbing our attention and startling some of us by how unnoticed he came in.

"My loyal Espada," he began, "first I would like to introduce our newest member, Szayel Aporro Grantz..."

Said man took the short pause to formally bow to us.

"The next is order of business is asses a certain subject that has caught my interest," Aizen continued as Ulquiorra stood up suddenly. He then proceeded to walk himself to the front of the table and did something stomach-churning. Without hesitation, or even the slightest notion that he felt it, he _removed_ his eye and crushed it. Immediately after, a glittering dust flowed from his fist and formed into a screen showing a (rather one-sided) battle between Yami and an orange-hair Shinigami with a solid black daito.

"The Shinigami," Aizen explained, "Is Ichigo Kurosaki. He is, in actuality, a human that has gained Shinigami powers, but due to certain events, has obtained my interest."

"If I may, Aizen-sama," Ulquiorra interrupted, "I have seen what he is capable of, and just because he could cut off _Yami's_ hand, doesn't make him worth more then the thrash he is."

It was hard to argue with his comment; Yami was the weakest of us in his pre-release state. His post release was respectful to an extent, able to jump from _diez_ to _cero_ in terms of power; but in the end, he was nothing more than a raging beast and all it took to kill a beast was something smarter than it.

"So," I broke the short silence, "Has this Kurosaki done any thing to make himself known?"

"I'm glad you asked," Aizen said pleased, "he has been a Shinigami for only little over a year and in that time he has bested a Lieutenant, defeated two Captains, killed more then enough hollows to form a Menos, fended off a Menos, and attained his Bankai in roughly three days."

"_Three days,"_ Muramasa repeated, _"it normally takes hundreds of years for a Shinigami to gain Shikai; the fact that he obtained both in _that_ amount of time shows that he is _not _'trash.'"_

A silence fell over the meeting and it persisted to remain. Grimmjow was the first to break this silence.

"From the sounds of things, it would seem that this Kurosaki would be a worthy opponent."

"Or a valuable ally, if trained properly" Harribel countered.

Now Harribel had the better point; it was clear that Ichigo's power was developing at a rate that he, if given the time, would get to the point that he would ether be an immense problem or a benefit if we could get him to join us. So the question was; deal with Ichigo before he becomes a threat or get him fighting for us?

* * *

><p>There's six.<p>

Now you, the reader, get to decide. Does Ichigo get offed early, or does he get to join the Arrancar Army (by force if necessary)

No, seriously, you the readers get to decide Ichigo's faith here, you kill him or have him join to (possibly) help off Aizen before he becomes a douchebag-god-butterfly-thing.

If, however, there are less then ten unique votes by the 4th of July, then I will make the final decision.


End file.
